Seahawks' Super Bowl XLVIII victory over Broncos has feeling of Cowboys team from early '90s

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Tom Fox/Staff Photographer

The Dallas Cowboys haven’t been to the Super Bowl in 18 years and some probably think they’ll never get back. But a parity driven league like the NFL allows most franchises to feel like they’re close to the mountain top. After three consecutive .500 seasons, what would it take for the Cowboys to make it to Glendale, Ariz. (pictured), next year? SportsDay’s Jon Machota gives you 10 things that need to fall into place for that to happen.

EAST
RUTHERFORD, NJ — Too much of the discussion in the days leading up to this game
had to do with Peyton Manning’s legacy.

Now that another NFL season has come to a close, let’s shift the focus to
where it rightfully belongs.

Seattle’s rise.

A young, brash Seahawks team did more than beat Denver in Super Bowl XLVIII.
Seattle’s 43-8 victory Sunday night at MetLife Stadium delivered a message to
the rest of the league.

Beware. This isn’t a team catching fire late to win the title as Baltimore
did last February. This isn’t the New York Giants or Green Bay Packers slipping
into the playoffs on the final day and then beating the odds.

No, this is something different. It has the feel of Super Bowl XXVII in 1993
when the Cowboys burst on the scene with a 52-17 win over Buffalo.

That was the first of three Lombardi Trophies in four years for the Cowboys.
It’s premature to suggest the Seahawks will enjoy that sort of success. But
their dominance was sobering.

“It’s all about making history,” Seattle safety Earl Thomas said. “This was a
dominant performance from top to bottom.”

Seattle has been building for this moment ever since head coach Pete Carroll
arrived four years ago. The Seahawks are young, fast and deep on defense. They
have a quarterback of poise and leadership beyond his years in Russell Wilson, a
hammer for a running back in Marshawn Lynch and a refusal to accept the
limitations of inexperience.

Not one player on the Seattle roster appeared in a Super Bowl before Sunday’s
game. The last team to make that claim was Buffalo in ’90.

Unlike that franchise, the Seahawks came away champions.

“This is an amazing team,” Carroll said. “It started a long time ago, I’m
talking four years ago. They never took a step sideways or backward to get to
where they are now.

“These guys would not take anything other than winning this game. They didn’t
think anything else would happen.”

It quickly became evident that nothing other than a Seattle win would be the
outcome. The Seahawks defense came up with a safety 12 seconds into the game.
Two plays later, on a crossing pattern to Demaryius Thomas, safety Kam
Chancellor leveled the Denver receiver with a hit that registered on the Richter
scale.

“All of my teammates came up to me and said that set the tone,” said
Chancellor, the man who puts the boom in the defense’s Legion of Boom
moniker.

Seattle controlled the ball for 14:41 of the first 18 minutes on its way to a
15-0 lead. The Seahawks later added a 69-yard interception return for touchdown
by linebacker Malcolm Smith, the game’s Most Valuable Player, and opened the
third quarter with an 87-yard kickoff return for touchdown by Percy Harvin.

About that time, the audience for Downton
Abbey on PBS experienced a significant spike.

Injuries sidelined Harvin for all but 19 snaps during the regular season. The
receiver rewarded the organization’s patience with that kickoff return and by
leading the team in rushing with 45 yards on his two end-around runs.

“I was finally able to give my team something for four quarters,” Harvin
said. “That meant a lot to me.”

This game was supposed to represent an intriguing clash of styles. It never
did because Seattle’s No. 1 defense smothered Manning and the No. 1 offense of
the Broncos.

The Seahawks forced four turnovers and held the Broncos’ high-octane offense
to one meaningless touchdown once the lead ballooned to 36 points.

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